Graffiti in Tel Aviv: Leaving My Mark on the City, Literally

You cannot miss the graffiti in Tel Aviv… that is, if you go to the cool areas! We did a tour with a local graffiti artist, which was a special tour thanks to Vibe Israel. Unfortunately, I don’t think he typically does tours or lets people graffiti themselves, but if you’re really keen, it can’t hurt to ask him on his Instagram: @orenfischer.

We hit up an art gallery first and got to understand what journalism is like in Israel. Every country is different in how they allow journalists/bloggers/news to have “freedom of speech”, some countries better than others. It was awesome to meet with some local writers who write about politics in their country and don’t hold back.

After meeting in the gallery at Romano House (Beit Romano), we were off to see Oren’s graffiti. He’s actually really well-known in Tel Aviv (or at least his art is). Another well-known guy has a tag which is a band-aid (tags are like graffiti artist signatures- you might know this but if my mom and dad are reading they probably didn’t lol). See if you can find the band-aid below!

Graffiti in Tel Aviv

Couldn’t resist having a photo taken with the graffiti background. It didn’t hurt that we had a photographer traveling with us (Or Kaplan @oktlv) who did some awesome shots of all of us for our social media!

PS how cute is my new camera? It’s the

Panasonic GX80 and my photos from Israel were so much better than previous trips because of it. I never thought I’d want to carry a camera around, but now I can’t believe I waited this long. PS THESE amazing photos are not from my camera lol (except about 5 of them). They are from Or Kaplan who I linked to above.

So, we stopped for juices at this cafe which had seating in the back of a parked truck. I guess that makes it a truck stop! I’m not going to lie, I hated this drink. It tasted like the earth. I cannot handle sprouts and I don’t like sparkling water. For me, just terrible. However, everyone else who has sophisticated tastebuds loved this drink and raved about it. Healthy people, people who no longer drink Kool-aid, maybe you’ll like this.

Near the end of the tour, Oren got his paint out of his backpack and was like “let’s do some graffiti”. I was thinking, erm it’s illegal though, but I think it’s just frowned upon? Strangely, there was some that was ruined and the government actually asked them to put their graffiti back. I think all the government people secretly love it. I didn’t voice my concerns, because I’m not about being a Debby Downer ha!

So, what to have a group of “influencers” (bloggers, journalists, instagrammers) paint? Facebook icons of course! I am going to take credit for the dislike button (thumbs down). If you’re ever in Tel Aviv and see this, send it to me! It’s so cool that we got to leave this behind.

The photo above shows the codes that Oren uses in his graffiti. Each artist has their own “turf” and on the other side of this wall is more samples of what his symbols mean. It’s kind of done ironically and some are jokes.

This was definitely one of my favorite things we did in Tel Aviv, and even if you can’t do the graffiti yourself, I recommend you take a tour. There are LOTS of companies in the city offering tours and many work with local artists. You won’t want to miss this and if you want cool photos as souvenirs, this is the perfect place to explore. The area is in South Tel Aviv near Lewinsky Market and Florentine.

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I was in Israel hosted by Vibe Israel, a non profit, non political company. Thanks Vibe!

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Rachel Jones left a career in nursing and lived on the beaches of Goa, India for the five years. Now she lives in Mexico where she gives advice on the 40+ countries she’s visited in the last 10 years. She’s the author of two India travel e-books: Guide to India and Insider’s Guide to Goa. Her blog, Hippie in Heels, like its name, is a contradiction combining off-beat adventurous places with glamorous and bespoke travel. Hippie in Heels has been featured in ELLE, Marie Claire, Grazia, and Cosmopolitan magazines. She’s a writer for Bravo TV.